Sigulda 4 – Evangelical Lutheran Church

 

The Protestant Church is outside the New Castle [1], near the parking lot for the Medieval Castle and the New Castle. My guidebook doesn't mention it, but you can see it on the city map [2]. The members of the Kropotkin family were Russian Orthodox and their place of worship was a wooden house, which Wikipedia describes as yellow [3], but is now painted red. "Services were held by the orthodox priest of Ledurga parish."

But what about religious affiliation? After all, Latvia was part of the USSR for over 50 years. Latvia is more heterogeneous than Lithuania. In Lithuania, over 70% of people are Roman Catholic, which is probably due to the fact that Lithuania and Poland once formed a union. In Latvia, about 36% of the population are Protestants (Lutherans), 19% Catholics, and about 13% Orthodox.

The Sigulda Evangelical Lutheran church was first mentioned in the 15th century. It was then called St. Bartholomew’s Church. The ceiling lights are from the late 19th century. The tower dates from 1930. In the Soviet era, 1965-1990 to be precise, this was the only church, so it was used ecumenically [4]. As is usual for protestant churches, there is much less decoration than in catholic or orthodox churches. The reformers based their work on the following commandment: “You shall not make for yourself an image, or any likeness of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or worship them!” [5]. Therefore, images should only be used as a pedagogical tool (D. Martin Luther) or not at all in the church (more radical view of John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli). You should definitely not kneel down in front of an image of the Virgin Mary and worship it, because that would be against God's express commandment [6].

Is the detour worth it? Definitely, because if you visit the castles, you're almost there.

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2024/08/sigulda-1-new-castle.html
[2] Thorsten Altheide, Alexandra Frank, Mirko Kaupat, Heli Rahkema, Günther Schäfer: Reise Know-How Reiseführer Baltikum: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. Reise Know-How Verlag, Bielefeld 2023. ISBN: 978-3-8317-3597-6, city map p. 364.
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigulda_Castle
[4] https://caminolatvia.com/object/sigulda-evangelical-lutheran-church/?route=646&stage=636
[5] Exodus 20:4f.
[6] https://fragen.evangelisch.de/frage/5404/warum-sind-evangelische-kirchen-schlichter-als-katholische.

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